Encryption during modulation of signals

• US 20020085716A1
• Filed: 12/14/2001
• Published: 07/04/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Nortel Networks Limited (Nortel Networks Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nortel Networks Limited (Nortel Networks Corporation)
• Inventors: Abdulkader, Barbir
• Application Number:
  US10/014,535
• Publication Number:
  US 20020085716A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 380/205
• CPC Class Codes: H04K 1/02 by adding a second signal to make the desired signal unintelligible

Abstract

The invention allows the introduction in real-time of at least sufficient security to minimize the risk of intruders overhearing data on a particular link. This reduces the risk of being victim to either a Type 1—Unauthorized access threat or a Type 3—Message sequencing threat. The method involves encryption at the physical data link level where the form of the encryption affects groups of data bits. The effect of introducing the invention is to add noise to the signal in such a way that it can be subtracted from the received signal leaving only the original signal. The resulting signal, were it to be observed by a person other than the intended recipient, would have an effective Signal to Noise (S/N) ratio of less than 1. The masking effect of this added ‘noise’ signal hides the original signal from any eavesdroppers, since it well-known in the art that for a non-periodic signal to be effectively recovered it must have a S/N greater than 1.

Claims

1. An encryption system comprising:

a transmitting device for modulating data with a pseudo-random signal for signalling over a transmission medium; and

a receiving device for receiving said data by removing said pseudo-random signal.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein said transmitting device further comprises:

means to generate a second modulated signal;

means to add said second modulated signal to said data signal to produce a transmitted signal; and

means to send said transmitted signal over a transmission medium.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein said receiving device further comprises:

means to generate a third modulated signal;

means to subtract said third modulated signal from said transmitted signal to produce a data output signal; and

means to demodulate said output signal to produce a second data output signal.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein said second modulated signal and said third modulated signal are pseudo-random and opposite in amplitude, but otherwise identical in phase and frequency, thereby simplifying the demodulation of said data.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the parameters defining the phase, amplitude and frequency of said second modulated signal and said third modulated signal are derived from a random number generator seeded with a key, thereby increasing the difficulty of an intruder planning to intercept said transmitted signal.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein said random number generator is implemented at both the transmitter and receiver and seeded with the same key so that parameters derived from both are the same and when applied to said means for generating said second modulated signal and said means for generating said third modulated signal result in the same signal being generated, thereby ensuring correct reception of said transmitted signal.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the data is manipulated as a ‘

group of bits’ and

the number of bits in a ‘

group of bits’

is a parameter and may be varied for each ‘

group of bits’

.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein said number of bits parameter is derived from a second random number generator.

9. The system of claim 7 wherein said number of bits parameter is derived from the same random number generator as used for the parameters defining said second modulated signal and said third modulated signal.

10. A method of encrypting data comprising the steps of:

modulating data with a pseudo-random signal for signalling over a transmission medium;

transmitting said data;

receiving said data; and

removing said pseudo-random signal.